Colombian Navy units rescued 14 Venezuelan migrants, including four minors, who were abandoned in waters near San Andrés when they intended to be transported to Central America.
The search and rescue operation began when the Traffic Control and Maritime Surveillance System detected a suspicious contact to the southeast of the island, for which a Rapid Reaction Unit of the Coast Guard Station of San Andrés was notified, which immediately moved to the said coordinates to verify the situation.
Upon arriving at the site, the two individuals who were piloting the suspicious boat started to escape back to San Andrés towards El Cove sector, where a couple of miles offshore they abandoned the boat with their passengers and swam to the shore to escape of the authorities, leaving the 14 Venezuelan migrants they had on board adrift, apparently bound.
After helping two people who were injured, the members of the Naval Institution led the migrants and the boat, which did not comply with current maritime regulations or with the minimum security conditions to go to sea, to the main dock of the Coast Guard Station of San Andrés.
Already in port, the injured were assisted by medical personnel of the Emergency Regulatory Center -CRUE - and later put into custody of the Colombian Migration officials. In the same way, the minors were handed over to the Family Commissariat for the restoration of their rights.
Source: Press – Navy of Colombia
